U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs Caroline Atkinson today announced the U.S. private sector members who will serve the next term on the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum. The Forum will meet during the State visit of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to Washington, D.C., in October and will provide joint recommendations to both presidents on opportunities to advance the U.S.-Brazil bilateral relationship. Pritzker and Atkinson will co-chair the ninth meeting of the CEO Forum along with Brazilian Presidential Chief of Staff Minister Gleisi Hoffmann and Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Fernando Pimentel. 

“During his recent trip to Brazil, Vice President Biden asked what the United States and Brazil can do together. The U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum seeks to answer that question through a public-private dialogue in which business leaders from the United States and Brazil make recommendations to the highest levels of our respective governments about the future of our bilateral economic and commercial relationship,” said Secretary Pritzker. “I am looking forward to meeting the new and returning CEOs along with both Ministers Pimentel and Hoffmann and Deputy National Security Advisor Atkinson to discuss issues of mutual interest.”

 The Forum has had success opening discussions between the United States and Brazilian governments on a number of important issues, including visa reform, aviation, and education, and was instrumental in concluding the recent U.S.-Brazil Tax Information Exchange Agreement.